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9mo doesn't want to nurse, should i stop solids?

Hi everyone,

I am new here and have a few questions.

I started my daughter on solids at 6 mos. She did fine on them until just recently. I started added more variety and now she has constipation. So the doctor advised me to give her flax oil, over the counter stool softner, prune juice and apple sauce. I have been doing this with some success. But now,I think that my daughter is nursing less often because of the added juice during the day and the fact that she is 9 mos old and is very active. She doesn't want to stop and nurse when she could be walking and playing with her brother.

I've noticed over the last couple of nights that she only nurses 1-3 times at most and may nurse about 2-3 times during the day. Of course the daily sessions are very very short; maybe 2-3 mins at a time. THen she is off to bigger and better things.

My milk supply is definately suffering. What should I do? I was thinking of cutting out one of her solid feedings and letting her nurse more often. BM has always helped wiht constipation in the past. I feel guilty not giving her three meals a day. But I really think the increased nursing will help with constipation. I need to get my milk supply back up if I am going to continue nursing.

Any suggestions out there. Also, wanted to mention that my 9 mos old is about 17 lbs right now and was born at 7 lbs. She's much smaller than other kids her age and I just worry that she is not getting enough milk from me and that cutting back on solids may be depriving her of nutrition. So confused...any insights advice would surely be welcome.

Re: 9mo doesn't want to nurse, should i stop solids?

At her age, you could safely cut out all solids and exclusively nurse, so don't worry about "depriving" her of 3 meals a day. Ds was eating 3 meals a day by 10 mo, but he always looved food and nursing and has never had a problem with constipation.

Breastmilk will probably actually work better than juice to combat constipation, and it'll be far better all around. If nothing else, cut out the juice!

By the way, don't stress about the lenght of her feeds. At her age, she likely is efficent enough to drain a breast in under 3 mins. To help her get more milk in less time (especally the fatty hindmilk), try breast compressions: http://www.kellymom.com/newman/15bre...mpression.html

Re: 9mo doesn't want to nurse, should i stop solids?

So how would you go about cutting down on solids?

Today, I gave her a little breakfast, applesauce with flaxseed oil and for lunch, some sweet potatoes. At dinner time I gave her some califlower pieces. She likes to use her pincer grasp now. And she was happy and satisfied with that. I nursed her about 3 times today, one time was reasonably long, the other times very short. I'll cut out the prune juice and see if that helps.

I will nurse her to sleep and hopefully she'll wake up during the wee morning hours to nurse that will help out my supply.

Re: 9mo doesn't want to nurse, should i stop solids?

You may want to start with cutting out the morning breakfast as your supply is likely higher in the morning. If you nurse your baby on demand, it will certainly help the supply (if you aren't already).

Kristie L.
LLL Leader
(the poster formerly known as fezzik812)
Wife to Brett, Mommy to Seamus (5.1.05), and Emelie (1.18.08)

Re: 9mo doesn't want to nurse, should i stop solids?

Hi Suzanne,
It's OK if she's not having 3 full meals a day at 9 months. Breastmilk is complete nutrition and the period of time from 6 to 12 months can be considered a time to experiment with tastes and textures and check for allergic reactions. She sounds busy. (Is she really walking already!? Phew!) You might try offering to nurse more often during the day or night. Another thing to try is to nurse her before offering solids. Then the solids aren't taking the place of breastmilk but are more complementary. Some babies are simply smaller than others. Is she growing and gaining along her own growth curve?
Mary
p.s. I'm moving this to Introducing Solids for more replies.

Re: 9mo doesn't want to nurse, should i stop solids?

You may also want to take her and nurse her in a dark room with or with out a noise maker, but def away from distractions and her siblings. Just before naps is a good time, they seem to nurse longer when they are settling down for a rest. If you do this several times a day at pretty consistent times she will come to know that it is time to eat. All the best!

Re: 9mo doesn't want to nurse, should i stop solids?

You could even set an alarm to make sure to wake and feed her during the early morning hours. Ds at least is always very receptive to nursing while asleep unless he's just very recetly nursed to sleep.

For solids, you could try allowing her to self-feed all her foods (ie don't spoon feed anything). It'll let her learn and explore more, and she'll probably end up eating far less.